World Notes WEST GERMANY

Behind a bulletproof-glass partition in a Frankfurt prison courtroom, Lebanese-born Mohammed Ali Hammadi listened calmly last week as a prosecutor read the charges against him. Hammadi is accused of participating in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA Boeing 727 and the killing of U.S. Navy Diver Robert Stethem, 23, who was savagely beaten, shot in the head and then thrown onto the tarmac at Beirut airport. The Reagan Administration sought Hammadi's extradition after his arrest last year at Frankfurt airport, but Bonn refused, partly because of pressure by Shi'ite militants holding two West German hostages in Beirut.

Facing Hammadi last week were the slain man's parents, Richard and Patricia Stethem, who appeared as co-plaintiffs for themselves and six passengers. The couple's lawyer, Rainer Hamm, stressed that though the process was taking place in the "wrong country" -- West Germany rather than the U.S. -- their presence in court was a "symbol of trust . . . toward the West German justice system." Hammadi entered no plea. His trial is expected to last at least a year.